Season One: "Signs and portents" (Part Four)
Same problem persists: twenty thousand characters might seem like a lot, but when you're a motormouth with a pen/keyboard like me, it's not even close. So, once again, splitting this next post up into two parts, otherwise I'd just have the one episode to post, which is not how I want to approach this. Apologies, mods!
1.9 "Deathwalker"
The arrival of an alien at the station causes controversy when it's rumoured that she is an infamous war criminal, Warmaster Jha'Dur of the Dilgar, whose name is whispered in hatred and anger as Deathwalker. She is responsible for countless atrocities, among them war crimes against G'Kar's people, as the Dilgar fought against both the Narn and Earth in the past. That war, however, ended over thirty years ago and all remaining Dilgar died when their sun went nova, so Sinclair and Garibaldi, and Franklin, who examines the woman purported to be Deathwalker after Na'Toth, who has sworn a blood oath against her, attacks her at the docking bay, are all skeptical that this could be the same person.
However, after a search of her ship reveals a Dilgar uniform with insignia on it which seems to confirm the patient as Jha'dur, the infamous Deathwalker, and a strange chemical is also recovered, there seems little doubt, strange and unlikely as it may be, that this is the same person who led the Dilgar invasion of 2230. Sinclair gets a communication from Earth, where a senator there tells him he is to make arrangements to send the mystery woman to Earth as soon as she is fit to travel. Sinclair's protestations that they believe her to be Deathwalker, and thus a war criminal more deserving of imprisonment and trial than free passage to Earth, fall on deaf ears, and he is ordered to carry out the senator's directions.
Meanwhile, G'Kar, who has taken the arrested Na'Toth into his custody, explains that although he understands and agrees with his aide's blood oath, Deathwalker has discovered something that could help the Narn in their quest to become stronger and take their place among the superpowers of the galaxy, and that this once, she must put her revenge on hold. Like Sinclair, he has orders too to convey the Warmaster to his home planet.
Summoned to medlab as the patient regains consciousness, Sinclair is told by her that she is indeed the war criminal, and that she has been sheltered and protected by a Minbari warrior clan, which is why when she arrived at the station she was onboard a Minbari vessel. She tells the commander that she has developed an anti-ageing drug, which she calls an anti-agapic, and is prepared to bring it to Earth so it may be further refined and then distributed to all. Sinclair is stunned: Deathwalker has in effect discovered the fountain of youth, the secret of immortality. She herself is living proof that it works, and she knows the value and importance of her discovery.
G'Kar, meanwhile, has made a very generous offer to Jha'dur to try to get her to take her drug to Narn instead of Earth, and she agrees to consider it, providing she's given Na'Toth's head on a platter! Angry, G'Kar leaves, and stirs up trouble by making it known to the other alien representatives that the Earthers are trying to "smuggle" Deathwalker off the station. Deathwalker is a horror figure in many of their histories, and most have encountered tales of her cruelty and barbarism, and they are loath to let her leave. They demand a full session of the council be convened, to instigate a trial of the war criminal. Faced with a fullscale riot and the very real possibility of the deaths of many, Sinclair has no choice but to accept their terms.
The session does not go well. Although Londo votes against the trial --- as he has nothing to gain from it, and Deathwalker never attacked his people --- G'Kar unsurprisingly votes yes, but with a caveat: the trial must take place on his home planet. When that idea is shouted down, he changes his vote to no. Although Sinclair had expected the Minbari to vote yes, they do not, as they have a dirty secret they need to keep about Deathwalker. With only Earth and the League of Non-Aligned Worlds voting yes, and Kosh as ever abstaining, the vote is defeated and the trial cannot take place.
Angered at how the vote turned out, some of the races call in ships from their forces to blockade Babylon 5, demanding Deathwalker not be allowed leave the station. Placing Babylon 5's defences on full alert, Ivanova warns the ships off but the situation is deteriorating. Sinclair sees he has no choice but to call another session of the council and reveal the truth about Jha'dur's amazing discovery. They all agree it is a huge opportunity for all races to benefit, and agree it should be developed, but want Deathwalker tried afterwards. Sinclair agrees that once they have synthesised the serum and can make it without her assistance, the Warmaster will be turned over to the League. The compromise is accepted, and a ship made ready to take Jha'dur to Earth.
Before she leaves though, Deathwalker can't resist telling Sinclair the truth behind the anti-agapic: its main ingredient must be taken from living beings, so people will have to die, probably in the millions or even billions, for others to live. She is very pleased with the dark symmetry of the situation, but Sinclair snarls at her to get off his station.
As the ship departs, the jumpgate opens and a Vorlon ship comes through. Without hesitation it destroys the ship carrying Deathwalker, to the surprised cheers of all watching. Kosh, who has come out to witness the attack, tells Sinclair humanity is not ready for immortality.
Great as this episode is, there's a really stupid, pointless subplot where Kosh engages Talia Winters to mediate in negotitations he is having with a weird alien being called Abutt. The two speak in riddles, and it seems Abbut is a "Vicar", or VCR --- a human recording device. But the story goes and went nowhere, and whether it was part of JMS's original plan or not to use it, I don't know but it now stands as a completely unrelated and loose thread that was never tied into the massive tapesty of Babylon 5. It's a loose end, and there are seldom any of those in this story, which is why I think it annoys me so much.
Important Plot Arc Points:
Kosh/Vorlons
Arc Level: Red
To be fair, there aren't really any important arc elements here. It's interesting though to see that Kosh, the Vorlon ambassador, finally takes an active role in events, as his people decide the younger races are not ready for the tremendous power that living forever brings, and take steps to make sure they do not get the chance. Kosh will now again retreat into the shadows, and we won't really hear from him again for a few more episodes, though he will always be around, waiting, listening, observing, perhaps planning.
The Wind Swords/Hole in your mind
Arc Level: Green
It's clear from what Jha'dur says that the Minbari war clan The Wind Swords sheltered her, and in truth it turns out that they did more than that, because Lenier later tells Sinclair that during the war against Earth they came to the Grey Council with weapons of mass destruction which they had obtained from Deathwalker. The Council had been at the time unaware of their involvement with the Dilgar Warmaster, and being an honourable people were and are embarrassed by the revelation. This is why they voted against the trial, because in such a proceeding, surely this most damaging skeleton would have been dragged from its closet, tarnishing their reputation and perhaps making them complicit in the Dilgar's warcrimes?
Also, Deathwalker mentions that the Wind Swords have spoken often about Sinclair, and that they say, yes you guessed it, he has a hole in his mind.
Quotes
Unsurprisingly, Warmaster Jha'dur gets the lion's share of the best quotes from this episode, and Sarah Douglas, in the role of Deathwalker, delivers these lines with the chilling contempt of a serial killer who knows she will never be brought to justice for her crimes, for she has in her possession something far more valuable to any living being than revenge.
Deathwalker to G'Kar, on his offer to have her come to Narn: "I will consider it, Ambassador, if in addition I may have just one thing: the head of the animal who attacked me in the landing bay!"
Deathwalker to Sinclair: "You know the way of command. Yes, the Wind Swords are right to fear you.... they have sheltered me for many years, in return for certain services. They speak of you often, Sinclair. They say you have a hole in your mind."
Deathwalker to G'Kar: "You're very well informed, G'Kar. Our reports always said you were a clever one--and a good resistance leader, too. If Earth Alliance hadn't taken a hand in our invasion, we might have helped your kind wipe the Centauri out completely."
Garibaldi on Deathwalker's intentions: "She wiped out entire races, destroyed whole planets, experimented on living beings. Now she wants to make everybody immortal?"
Garibaldi to Sinclair, on his plan to get Jha'dur off the station and back to Earth, as ordered: "Better pray to that God of yours you're right, Jeff, because if any of the League ambassadors find out about this 'deal,' they'll tear Babylon 5 to pieces."
Deathwalker, on the effect her drug will have on the galaxy: "Delicious irony ... that those who cursed us will have to thank us for the rest of time."
Deathwalker's last words to Sinclair: "You and the rest of your kind take blind confidence in the belief that we are monsters--that you could never do what we did. The key ingredient in the serum cannot be synthesized; it must be taken from living beings. For one to live forever, another one must die. You will fall upon one another like wolves. It'll make what we did pale by comparison. The billions who live forever will be a testimony to my work, and the billions who are murdered to buy that immortality will be the continuance of my work. Not like us? You will
become us.
That's my monument, Commander."
Kosh (after the Vorlon ship has destroyed Deathwalker's vessel) to Sinclair: "You are not ready for immortality".